Lester D Quandt
MilitaryOn 9 November 1942 assigned target U/B at St. Nazaire, France. On return, crashed into field beyond runway in B-17F #41-24494. RTD
Shot down 18 November 1942 in B-17 #41-24474 'Floozy' while serving as Engineer/Top Turret Gunner. The aircraft was hit by flak over St. Nazaire damaging an engine, letting down over the Bay of Biscay, it was attacked again by FW 190's forcing the pilot to ditch the aircraft 2 miles off the Ile d'Oussant off of the tip of the Brest Peninsula. TSgt Quandt was injured in one of the attacks. Prisoner of War (POW) at Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf Near Krems Austria. MACR 16448.
POW
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 18 November 1942
- Official Description:
- Date: 9 November 1942
- Official Description:
Places
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag 17b, Krems an der Donau, Austria
![A bomber crew of the 306th Bomb Group wave to Picture Post Girls in front of a B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 41-24471) nicknamed "Four of a Kind" at Thurleigh in December 1942. Image stamped on reverse: '"Picture Post" [stamp], 'Passed for Publication 11 Dec 1942.' [stamp], '238038.' [Censor no.] Handwritten in censor's blue pencil on reverse: 'American Flying Fortress crew are introduced to the girls they will meet at Picture Post Xmas Party.'](https://assets.americanairmuseum.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_thumb_x2/public/freeman/media-379028.jpg.webp?itok=6Gc6iR0j)
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Bedford
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Krems an der Donau, Austria | 18 November 1942 - 22 September 1944 | Held at Stalag 17B, Braunau-Gneikendorf, near Krems, Austria. Officially Returned to Military Control (RMC) 22-Sep-44. Based on RMC and the fact that he had been wounded, it appears he was RMC as part of a POW exchange. |
|
Other Ditched |
Ushant, France | 18 November 1942 | Managed to exit the aircraft after it was ditched into the sea. |
|
Died |
26 August 1987 |
Revisions
Added an association to Stalag 17B per WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Lee Cunningham 27-Nov-2014. Rearranged description for chronological order of events; added Ditching event and location per "Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces" Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE; added aircraft associations per MACR 16448.
Lee Cunningham 4-Nov-2014. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 16448; National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs by Hey and Bishop p.45, 46-47, First Over Germany pg. 49, NARA